Milford: Addiction treatment a 'frustrating experience'

Friday

Aug 29, 2014 at 12:03 AM

By Zachary ComeauDaily News Staff

MILFORD - More than 30 medical, mental health and substance abuse professionals, along with legislators and public health officials, came to a consensus Thursday in terms of helping those struggling with addiction: More needs to be done.

A forum held at Milford Regional Medical Center and organized by state Sen. Richard Moore, D-Uxbridge, state Rep. John Fernandes, D-Milford, state Department of Public Health Commissioner Cheryl Bartlett and Milford Regional Medical Center’s Chief Executive Officer Frank Saba, highlighted areas of substance abuse treatment that need more attention.

Bartlett, speaking at the eighth regional roundtable discussion in which she has participated statewide, said there has been a 90-percent increase in opioid related deaths in the last 10 years.

About half of the patients that come to substance abuse programs are there primarily because of opiates, and 40 percent of those individuals are between the ages of 13 and 29, she said.

"It’s a burgeoning problem," Bartlett said.

The access to Narcan, a nasal spray that reverses the effects of an oipiod overdose, has been beneficial, but more needs to be done before an overdose occurs, such as banning the use of Zohydro, Bartlett said.

However, in July a U.S. District Court judge ruled against a proposed ban on Zohydro, a powerful painkiller.

Bartlett also said addicts find it increasingly difficult to get help in what she called a "fragmented system of care."

When an addict goes to a hospital emergency room, they are often told there are not enough beds. Instead, they are given a list of treatment centers, she said.

"They go home and use again," Bartlett said. "We want to try to eliminate those gaps."

Moore said more focus needs to be placed on over-prescribing pain killers.

"There is a balance between pain management and over-prescription," he said. "There are a number of folks besides doctors and nurses that can prescribe."

Fernandes said he has had family members who have battled and struggled with addiction.

"It can be a very lonely, difficult place to be," he said.

Jeff Hopkins, the director of the hospital’s emergency department, said a substance abuse task force recently established at the hospital and a prescription monitoring database are big steps, but actual treatment methods need some work.

"It’s a very frustrating experience for patients to get set up with appropriate resources," he said.

To completely tackle the issue, Hopkins said everyone needs to pitch in.

"I’ve been practicing emergency medicine for a long time, and I can’t tell you what the best treatment is," he said. "You need an all-hands-on-deck team approach."

Kelly Graves, a parent of a son who has been in recovery from opioid addiction for 15 months, said she has been attending a support group called Learn to Cope that has 14 chapters in the state.

"It saved my sanity," she said.

The program, supported by the state Department of Public Health, became the first of its kind to train family members in how to use Narcan.

Graves said that initiative has helped save the lives of 30 of the program’s sons and daughters.

But she said substance abuse treatment is still a broken system that doesn’t treat addiction seriously.

"The frustration is there, but we also have the fear on our side that our son or daughter is going to die," she said.

Zachary Comeau can be reached at 508-634-7556 and zcomeau@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @ZComeau_MDN.